Call Center In Focus

Forbes.com Inc., has released the list of the “World’s Biggest Public Companies” it is the annual list of world’s largest public companies. We decided to get the list of In-house and BPO Companies that have a regional office in the Philippines that made it to the list. We believe that the list would be a useful representation of top BPO Companies in the world since Forbes is one of the most trusted source for businesses and investment leaders. The list is an annual ranking of top 2000 public companies in the world which is based on four metrics: sales, profit, assets and market value. The list below contains BPO and in house companies with Philippine branches or subsidiaries. With a Global Services Center in Taguig and Cebu the parent company of JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A.-Philippine Global Service Center has emerged on the top based on Forbes’ list. The top positions have been dominated by in-house companies with businesses ranging from banks, oil companies, a...

Are BPO companies prepared if the “Big One” strikes? We have been wondering if the industry has prepared a standard protocol to follow in times of natural disasters. To understand the participation rate of BPO companies, we decided to monitor social media during Metro-Wide “Shake Drill”. It was alarming to see that there were only few BPO companies that joined the vital event given the fact that it was done in daytime where it is considered as off- peak hours for most accounts. We understand that some companies are challenged in terms of BCP (Business Continuity Planning) preparation. In a survey by CCAP (Call Center Association of the Philippines) BCP implementation was one of the concerns. Would the survey mean that some BPO companies would rather risk the lives of their employees than losing their profit? Being ranked as the 3rd most disaster prone country in the world, it would be a no brainer if a company doesn’t have an established preparedness plan. See how Che...

A jobless fresh graduate of a 5 year course got disappointed with his Alma Mater for being referred in a call center. It appears that the Facebook user laments that his University wants its graduates to become call center agents. Check out his Facebook Post Below; Early this morning I received a text message from a CALL CENTER COMPANY and offer me a job as data analyst, sadly they got my contact details from my own and beloved ALMA MATER. Yes I am jobless right now but I am a 5 YEAR DEGREE HOLDER and this job referral is a mock to my face and to my profession!!(no offense to all my relatives and friends who are in the call center industry). I am just very disappointed to my ALMA MATER by doing this! How shameless are you by doing this to me and to all the alumni of our beloved University. Is this the dream that you offer to us when we first enter the door of our University? You want us to become CALL CENTER AGENTS? (again no offense) It is tempting to all jobless grad...

In the recently concluded 9 th ICT Awards 2015 held at Marriot Hotel Manila, Cognizant Technology Solutions Philippines, Inc was named as the Best Company of the Year. Aside from local awards, Cognizant is also recognized on a global scale.  The company has numerous achievements in its sleeves it is included in Fortune’s list of top 500 Companies and World’s Most Admired Companies.  Photo Credits to ICT http://ict-awards.org.ph/ This year Accenture, Inc was hailed as the Best Employer of the Year Hall of Fame. Accenture has been the consistent top earner in the BPO Industry in terms of revenues generated. The International ICT Awards Philippines is held annually, it is organized by Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CanCham).  The goal of the award is to recognize and promote the achievements of organizations and individuals that are based in the Philippines.  Check out th...

Thinking of a work from home setup? Working from home means having more time with the family, but you have to consider your kids, background noises (dogs, tricycle, videoke) and a good home office setup. One of the most important thing to invest in is your internet connection. Let me share my experience on PLDT uLTEra, after 25 months of usage of theSmart Bro Canopy plan 999 or PLDT Home Bro I can say that I’m quite satisfied with the service since I get a constant speed of almost 2Mbps download plus upload and a friend is also using the same connection for his work from home office.   As part of their retention service PLDT offered a free upgrade to PLDT Home Bro Ultera. So what do I got after the upgrade? 1.        Free installation and activation fee. 2.        3Mbps of High-speed LTE service. 3.        I could still keep my SmartBro/HomeBro Canopy till I fully use the PLDT Ul...

BPO companies that offers a retirement plan remain very difficult to find so, I decided to search how much SSS monthly benefit we will get in case we retire.  Retiring is something that should be planned, I think that the perfect scenario of a retired employee is, not being dependent on our children. Time seems to fly, that’s why I’m hoping by the time that we retire 30 years from now the Filipino value of taking care of our grandparents would still be intact, and our children will not send us to retirement homes (home for the agent). I guess, behind our smiles this is how we really feel deep inside after working in a call center for a long time. Source: imgur user uglyfella Information below is from SSS website. Who may qualify for a retirement benefit? 1. A member who is 60 years old, separated form employment or ceased to be self-employed, and has paid at least 120 monthly contributions prior to the semester of retirement. 2. A member who is 65 years ...

Before joining the BPO industry, I receive my salary trough semi-monthly (15,30/31) payment, which appears to be a standard in the country. When I started working for a call center company that offers a bi-weekly pay schedule (every other Friday), I was surprised that there were a lot benefits for this type of payroll. Let me share the pros and cons of receiving Bi-Weekly salary. Pros and Cons of Bi-Weekly Salary Pros: 1. You will be paid 26 times a year compared to 24 times on semi-monthly payment. 2. It’s easy to manage your money since you wouldn’t have to wait for a specific date (15, 30) to receive your salary. 3. You can receive 3 paychecks in a month (May, October)  as seen from the bi-weekly pay calendar below. Cons: 1. Smaller amount of paycheck since the hours worked is fixed at 80 compared to semi-monthly payment which is greater than 80 work hours.  Here’s the List of BPO Companies with Bi-Weekly Pay Period (Every other Frid...

Fortune Magazine has published its annual list of Fortune 500 companies measured by revenue. As what we did with our previous articles we have filtered the list to reflect companies with shared service or BPO operations in the country. Being listed in the Fortune 500 could mean that the company has a large influence in the market and it may also show how its employees are treated trough compensation and benefits. Check out the list below; it may not reflect other companies since Fortune 500 only list companies based in the United States. The list has also been extended to 1000 companies. Working for a Fortune 500 or Forbes listed company may benefit individuals who jumps from one center to another since, less irate callers are encountered. A Fortune 500 company on your resume maybe considered as an achievement because based on experience; laziness and lackluster performance are not tolerated. Working with these companies is a proof that you can work with the best since,...

Call centers located in Colombia, Mexico, and Philippines are on AT&T’s watch list due to data breach affecting almost 280,000 US customers. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has entered a $25 million settlement with AT&T Services, Inc. to resolve an investigation into consumer privacy violations at AT&T’s call centers located in the said countries. The fine  is FCC’s largest privacy and data security enforcement action to date. The outcome of the said fine has started to take effect in call center companies. In Mexico, the incident has been investigated by the local authorities’ trough The Federal Institute for Information Access and Data Protection, or IFAI. AT&T Stress Foam source:  Title="you're a star! by Katy Warner, on Flickr According to reports, a Mexican media said the theft in Mexico was carried out by three employees of Teleperformance, a provider of call center services to AT&T, IFAI said in a statement. The M...

April is the tax month so we decided to check the latest news from BIR, what we found out is that the Bureau has released the list of “TOP 500 NON-INDIVIDUAL TAXPAYERS” which is updated as of March 6, 2015. Based on BIR’s list Citibank NA emerged as the Top Taxpayer for companies with BPO services in the Philippines. Citibank NA placed 43rd on the list paying more than 839 million pesos. Citibank is followed by Accenture which placed 114; the company paid more than 309 million pesos. Check out the list below; RANK TIN Company Name Income Tax Due Php 43 000444734-000 CITIBANK NA 839,428,977.00 114 000845543-000 ACCENTURE, INC. 309,489,217.64 177 000594807-000 DEUTSCHE REGIS PARTNERS, INC. 195,427,301.00 256 239952660-000 JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.-PHIL GLOBAL SERVICE CTR 128,268,271.00 306 000316497-000 MACQUARIE CAPITAL SECURITIES (PHILIPPINES) INC. 103,125,708.00 311 005035491-000 HSBC SAVINGS BANK (PHILIPPINES) INC 102,370,743.00 364 226444142-000 HEWLETT-PACKARD...

The Iphone has Siri and for Windows Phone users they have Cortana, both applications can work as our personal assistant.  Aside from assisting us in setting our alarm, sending an sms, or reminding us of the next important occasion; Siri and Cortana can also search the internet to provide valuable information for us like finding a restaurant or pulling up the stats of our favorite basketball player. Now here’s another girl who's capabilities are way beyond than Siri and Cortana, meet Amelia a smart blonde girl, who works like a virtual employee she can reply to e-mail, answer phone calls, and she’s also intelligent enough to act like a human.  The question is can she replace call center employees? To answer that let’s take a closer look at Amelia’s feature and how she resolves a problem. A brief description of Amelia based on IPSoft’s website says that “Amelia is the first artificially intelligent machine to understand, learn and empathize like a human. She speak...

A Facebook page named Wag Ganyan PH voiced out its concerns against call center employees who were caught smoking beside a No Smoking sign. The photos were taken in front of SM Megamall where one of the largest BPO company is located; the photos reveal a lot of cigarette butts and used cups that was allegedly thrown by call center employees of Convergys. Photo Screengrab from Wag Ganyan PH FBpage Netizens have mixed reactions about the scenario; Last December the attention of call center employees  has been called out by a netizen due to lack of discipline in terms of proper waste disposal. To be fair, the behavior is not limited to call center employees, check out the photo below during the earth day run where plastic cups were thrown everywhere. Let this be a reminder to us because according to the Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 9211, Otherwise Known as the Tobacco Regulation Act of 2003 there are sanctions for violating the No Smoking...

The Philippines has strengthened its position as one of the top destination for BPO and Shared Services in the World. The country was ranked 3rd for 2014 and 2nd for 2015 up by one notch this was according to a report by US-based global real estate adviser Cushman & Wakefield entitled “Where in the World? Business Process Outsourcing and Shared Service Location Index 2015”. The list may look surprising because India took the 20th spot however; the methods used in the rankings were based on the following factors: 1. Conditions 30 % – conditions like IT infrastructure, education and English proficiency. 2. Risk 20% – the risk factors include economic stability, political stability, corruption perception index, and energy security. 3. Costs 50 % - cost of labor, building costs, inflation, and property cost. Below is the top 10 list, lower number is better. Here's the full list. REGION Country RANK CONDITIONS RISK COST 2014 RANK APAC Vietnam 1 15 28 6 5 A...